Trump Administration Takes One More Toy Away From the Palestinian Terrorist Regime

The terror organization that masquerades as a government, the Palestinian Authority, soiled its collective man-dress a week ago when President Trump announced that the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This was both a symbolic move and a very significant act. It was symbolic because all of Israel’s government resides in Jerusalem and several nations, including Russia, have recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. It was significant because even though the announcement, itself, didn’t speak to the final status of Jerusalem, it is pretty obvious that we can’t expect or encourage a nation to negotiate away its capital. As the Palestinians claim Jerusalem is indivisible and theirs, our recognition of Israel’s capital being there takes away one item in the list of things the Palestinians believe they are entitled to.

Now another shoe has dropped. Part of Trump’s Jerusalem declaration read

President Trump recognizes that the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem are subject to final status negotiations between the parties.

Now the administration is subtly saying that the boundaries have actually been changed. This is via Axios.com:

A senior White House official told reporters today that the Trump administration believes the Western Wall in East Jerusalem will remain part of Israel in any future peace agreement with the Palestinians. The issue came up during a briefing to reporters on Vice President Mike Pence’s upcoming visit to Israel.
Why it matters: The statement risks further infuriating the Palestinians at a time when the administration is trying to cool down the crisis created by President Trump’s Jerusalem speech. The Western wall was occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967 and was never recognized as part of Israel by any country around the world.

Context: During previous negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, the U.S. supported the Israeli position that the Western Wall should stay part of Israel, but it was never articulated publicly.

What to watch: The official said Pence will visit the Western Wall during his trip to Israel, and he will do it as the vice president and not as a private citizen. “We cannot envision any situation under which the Western Wall would not [be] part of Israel,” the official said. “But as the president said, the specific boundaries of sovereignty of Israel are going to be part of the final status agreement.”

The bottom line: After the briefing ended, the White House official noted that the U.S. “cannot imagine Israel would sign a peace agreement that didn’t include the Western Wall.”

The Palestinians are all gritty-panties over this:

The Palestinian Authority bitterly rejected comments by a senior official in the Trump Administration on Friday that the White House “envisions” the Western Wall will remain part of Israel under any accord with the Palestinians.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a senior adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, declared Saturday that the PA would not accept any changes to what he called the borders of East Jerusalem. Israel captured East Jerusalem, including the Old City with the Temple Mount and Western Wall, from Jordan in the 1967 war.

“We will not accept any changes on the borders of East Jerusalem, which was occupied in 1967,” Abu Rudeineh said. “This statement proves once again that this American administration is outside the peace process,” he added.

That’s really not how this works. If you are a terrorist state that relies upon terror as tool of governance and you’re militarily incompetent, you don’t get to decide what final agreements look like. What you’re seeing in action is a peace solution taking place in slow motion by Israel, with US assistance, setting the terms of a final settlement. We’re a step closer to recognizing Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem. And we’re a step closer to at two-state solution that is dictated rather than negotiated. And the moment Israel pulls the trigger and announces the final borders of a Palaestinian state, the Palestinian Authority is going to have a real problem on its hands. Because then it is going to have to deliver for its people.